Ralph Waldo Emerson

In his 1837 speech “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “life is our dictionary,” encapsulating a body of work that reached well beyond the American 19th century. This comprehensive study explores Emerson as a preacher, poet, philosopher, lecturer, essayist and editor. There are nearly 100 entries on individual texts and their personal, historical and literary contexts. Emerson’s work is placed within his relationships with family members, fellow Transcendentalists and transatlantic friends, and his commitment to ethics, self-culture and social change.
This book provides the fullest possible exploration of Emerson’s writing and philosophy. Far ahead of his own time, the man enthusiastically questioned institutions, communities, friendships, history, individuality and contemporaneous approaches to environmental stewardship.

Prentiss Clark is an associate professor of English at the University of South Dakota. Her essays appear in The Henry James Review, Nineteenth-Century Literature, The James Baldwin Review and the forthcoming New Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oxford Handbook of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Laurence W. Mazzeno, president emeritus of Alvernia University, Reading, Pennsylvania, is the author or editor of 20+ books and more than 300 articles and reviews on literature and history. He lives in Arvada, Colorado.

Sue Norton, a lecturer of English at the Technological University Dublin since 1999, previously taught in University College Dublin, University College Cork and New Jersey City University.

Prentiss Clark. Series Editor Laurence W. Mazzeno; Associate Editor Sue Norton
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 301
Bibliographic Info: 5 photos, appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7760-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4775-3
Imprint: McFarland
Series: McFarland Companions to 19th Century Literature

Acknowledgments  vi
Preface  1
Abbreviations  4
Introduction  5
Emerson: A Brief Biography  13
Chronology of Emerson’s Major Book Publications  23
Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Companion  25
Appendix: Writing and Research Topics  273
Works Cited  277
Index  289

“Clark provides nearly 100 encyclopedia-style entries on Emerson’s philosophy, major works, influences, historical and cultural contexts, and legacies. … The book’s chief value derives from Clark’s expertise not only in Emerson’s primary texts (poetry, essays, journals, and sermons) but also in the most recent directions of Emersonian scholarship, including cosmopolitanism, racial justice, ecocriticism, and anti-foundationalist philosophy. The volume is readable and often edifying, even when tackling Emerson’s most complicated ideas. … Experienced Emersonians will find much of value here…highly recommended”—Choice